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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Follow the Light. Hear the Voices. It's not all Fox and Hounds. It's not even C-Span.

For the past couple of years I've been watching with trepidation and, yes, sadness, as C-Span, that formerly great political leveler, has been moving farther and farther to the right. There was a time when they were scrupulous about their fairness. I haven't forgotten the days when Brian Lamb seemed to feel strongly about their responsibility to present issues without bias.

These days things have changed enough that the moderators of Washington Journal find themselves using up precious minutes defending their choices against more and more urgent calls for some equity. They firmly deny the obvious fact that they give more quality time to Republicans and their issues than they do to Democrats.

They will say they read from many papers, and it's true, but if they choose, say, the New York Times, they'll only read the portions that weaken the Dem positions and strengthen the Republicans. They choose the portions of articles they highlight based on how effectively they think it bashes government policies. I didn't notice that same attention to detail during the dreaded Bush years.

Their papers du jour are the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and the New York Post. They bring on guests from The Heritage Foundation, (just this AM Lisa Curtis from the Heritage Foundation was on talking about WikiLeaks), The American Enterprise Institution, and the Cato Institution, and treat them as if their utterings are actually those of the American People.

Where are the folks from MoveOn.org or People for the American Way? Where are the spokespeople for the labor organizations? I see the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushing their myth that unfettered business will fix everything, but I don't see representation of the obvious evidence showing that unfettered business benefited mightily from the ruination of our country. (Today Laura Ingraham was on C-Span2's BookTV touting her latest screed against Obama. Where's Robert Reich or Al Franken or Rachel Maddow?)

Okay, I am biased and I make no bones about it. I not only lean Liberal, I stand firmly on what I consider hallowed ground. I haven't written about this before because I wanted to be sure I wasn't letting my biases get in the way. Was I seeing something that wasn't actually there? Are they fair and I'm just missing the times when the Democratic/Liberal/Progressive point-of-view is presented honestly and fairly, with the same amount of time given?

I wish I could say I'm wrong. I used to have a real love affair with C-Span. I watched it religiously and I marveled at the amount of unbiased information I could get from them. Something happened to C-Span during the last few years of the Bush administration, but I was still blindly in love at the time and refused to accept the growing signs of their abandonment. It was there, I just wasn't admitting it. Now I am. They've left me--and you--and all of us who refuse to toe the Republican/Right Wing line. They've gone over to the dark side and I'm completely baffled. Just when we need them the most, they've sided with the enemy. Why?

It's one among many "whys". Why are foolish clowns like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin the anointed titular heads of the Republican Party?

Why are hate-filled organizations like the Tea Party and the NRA viewed as celebrators of democracy?

Why are our fearless leaders afraid of all of the above? Why is the supposed free press afraid?

The answers are constantly being sought by those of us in the Liberal/Progressive blogosphere. The good news is our numbers are rising. The bad news is that there are so many of us, only a select few will rise to the top to be seen and heard by what passes these days for multitudes.

I know, I know. I made the same jokes about Twitter and Tweeting as everyone else, but here's what's so great about Twitter:

Everything.

Plus you get to follow people who either know what they're talking about or can lead you (RT or ReTweet) to someone else who knows what they're talking about. You can RT anything you find enlightening or amusing or nutty or sad, and it saves you from having to come up with your own 140-character quote-in-a-jar.

There's even a secret code that opens the doors to other liberal/progressive Tweeters and lets them know you're one of them. (#p2) There are other secret codes, of course, but I'm still bungling my way through so it's the only one I feel comfortable sharing right now. There's TweetDeck and Bitly and hashtags and a whole host of other confusing and arcane necessities required of heavy-duty Tweeters and their acolytes. (That's me.)

But the whole point of my post here is to shed light on some pretty amazing bloggers. These are people I might never have discovered had it not been for Twitter--and that's a fact. I find pretty amazing bloggers in other places, too, (like Talking Points Memo Cafe Reader Posts , Alternet Soapbox, and Open Salon--where every would-be blogger--including me--is welcome). In fact, there are legions of pretty amazing bloggers who are singing our song, spreading our message, and proving beyond doubt that liberals and progressives are out there in numbers that would be staggering to the MSM if only they would take the time to look around.

There are so many more (including my Favorites on the right side of my blog), but this gives an idea of the quality of the political blogs out there. They're wonderful and deserve a spot at the top. At the very least, they should know how much they're appreciated. And the country should know they're here. Please help spread the word. And feel free to add names to my list. Let their voices be heard.

1 comment:

Thank you very much for your writing on C-span and their abandonment of fairness. I watch c-span, especially Washington Journal, even getting up at 4am to do so. But lately, much as you have noticed, C-span seems to allow guests on that utter none-sense, without challenge. Again, thank you much, and I plan on reading more of your writings.

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